Close on the heels of the Colorado shooting, I'm sure there will be more talk about gun control. I certainly support reasonable limits on owning certain types of guns and ammunition, background checks, and so on. And while gun control might well help, I do not think it would solve the problem. In fact, I am suspicious that a more fundamental issue underlies both our culture's resistance to reasonable gun control and its apparent tendency toward violence.
As I read today's lectionary passages, I saw this verse from Acts which describes the first Christian converts and the beginning of the Church at Pentecost. "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." This begins a section of Acts that describes an ideal (some would say idealized) community that looks nothing like US society. It is very communal. No one wants for anything because everyone shares all they have. Even non-believers are impressed.
I suspect that if you showed people on the street some verses from Acts without telling them the origins, many would label them socialist. And they certainly don't fit well with individualistic American notions that are so quick to protect my rights, protect my property, etc. The stereotypical hero in American culture looks nothing like Jesus. It's hard to imagine Hollywood ever casting John Wayne, Sylvester Stallone, of Bruce Willis as Jesus, but they are the epitome of the quick-with-a-punch, quick-with-a-gun, American hero. (If you want an authentically Christian sort of movie heroism, try Gregory Peck's Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird.)
"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." I wonder which of these teachings we have devoted ourselves to in America. Many like to speak of us as a Christian nation, but it is a strange brand of Christianity, one that somehow mixes faith with a love of violence, guns, and the expectation that people should fight for their rights. Never mind that Jesus said, "Turn the other cheek... Love your enemy... Become a servant to all... Deny yourself."
And the dark side of American individualism in not a problem for just one side of the political spectrum. Our bitterly partisan, win at all costs, political landscape also seems contrary to basic, Christian notions. Both political parties often seem more intent on winning than on doing what is best. No doubt this is sometimes motivated by genuine belief in a viewpoint, but when Jesus says, "Love your enemy," he doesn't add, "if they agree with you."
Don't get me wrong. America is a wonderful place, but it is far from a perfect place. The verse from 1 John is as applicable to nations and cultures (maybe even more so) as it is to individuals. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." But if we are to do the soul searching and confession that John goes on to suggest, I think we need to dig a little deeper than we tend to do. We need to think about just what fundamental notions, values, beliefs, etc. under-gird who we are, and shape us for good and for ill. And for those who are Christian, I think we would also to well to emulate those first Christians who "devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."
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